The present invention relates to a method and system for collecting data at a source and distributing the data to one or more destinations and, more particularly, to such a method and system in which the data are protected from eavesdropping and from unauthorized changes from when the data leave the source until the data arrive at their ultimate destination(s).
The efficient storage and retrieval of multi-channel data communications, and especially of voice data, are critically important in many modern business and government applications. For example, financial institutions record instructions from clients as a protection against fraud and as evidence in legal proceedings about the content of telephone conversations; public safety agencies record emergency calls for event reconstruction and future investigations; commercial entities monitor transactions over the phone to evaluate salespersons' efficiency, to ensure customer satisfaction and to develop training programs.
Data logging and retrieval systems for capturing, recording and retrieving data transmitted over multiple communication lines are known in the art. See for example Henits, U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,372, which patent is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, and the references cited therein. FIG. 1 is a high-level schematic block diagram of an exemplary prior art system 10 for capturing, storing and retrieving telephone conversations. System 10 is based on a Local Area Network (LAN) 12 that uses the IP protocol to transfer digital data, borne by IP packets, among the other components of system 10. System 10 includes several loggers 14, as described for example in the Henits patent, for capturing digital data that represent telephone conversations. Digital records of the telephone conversations are stored in an archive 18. A controller 16 manages LAN 12.
LAN 12 is connected to the outside world, specifically to a Wide Area Network (WAN) 22 such as the worldwide Internet, by a Web server 20. User terminals 24, represented as personal computers, also are connected to WAN 22. A user of a terminal 24 uses a standard Web browser to access data stored in archive 18 via Web server 20.
System 10 is vulnerable to eavesdropping. Even if, as is usually the case, data captured by loggers 14 is encrypted and is stored in an encrypted form in archive 14, Web server 20 typically decrypts data requested by a user of a terminal 24 before exporting the data to WAN 22. There are many ways in which eavesdroppers can intercept the data on WAN 22, especially if WAN 22 is the worldwide Internet.
System 10 also is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of the data. This is true even if access to data in archive 18 were to be limited to terminals connected to LAN 12. For example, if archive 14 is responsible for encryption, data can be tampered with in transit from loggers 14 to archive 18.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a data collection and distribution system in which the data are continuously protected from eavesdropping and unauthorized modification, from when the data leave their original source until the data arrive at their ultimate destination.